He was called "Iron Martyn". Some historians admired this adamant commander of the Red Army, others branded him as a fanatic and merciless punisher. Jan Fritsevich Fabricius is one of the most controversial characters in the Russian Civil War.
From the biography of Jan Fabricius
Fabricius was born in 1877. The place of his birth was the town of Zlekas in the Kurland province. Now it is the territory of Latvia. His father was a Latvian farm laborer. However, he made sure that his son was educated.
Even as a child, Yang enthusiastically embraced the ideas of the revolution. Before the Russo-Japanese War, he joined the Social Democratic organization. After participating in the May Day demonstration, Yang was brought to trial. He received four years of hard labor and was exiled to the Far East. However, even here Yane did not stop his revolutionary activities.
Since 1916, Fabricius has been actively involved in the imperialist war. Having risen to the rank of staff captain, he is working on the formation of army committees.
Fabricius during the Revolution and the Civil War
In the fall of 1917, Jan Fritsevich became a battalion commander in the 1st Latvian Rifle Regiment. At the same time, he became a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
The Civil War began. Fabricius commands a detachment, and then holds the post of chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee of one of the counties in the North-West of the country. The red commander especially distinguished himself in battles against the German invaders near Pskov. He took part in the elimination of bandit formations.
From 1918 to 1919, Fabricius became the head of the 2nd Novgorod Infantry Division. His part liberated Latvia, for which he was presented by the leadership to the Order of the Red Banner.
Then Fabritius successfully routed Denikin's troops and took part in the war with Poland. In 1921, the already famous Iron Martyn fought bravely against the rebels in Kronstadt.
At the end of the Civil War, Jan Fritsevich commanded the 2nd Don Rifle Division, and after that he took command of the 17th Rifle Corps, which was part of the Ukrainian Military District.
In 1928, Fabricius continued his military career, becoming the assistant commander of the powerful Caucasian army.
Jan Fabricius: truth and fiction about the hero of the Civil War
In recent years, historians have begun to discover the true content of the events of the Civil War, in which Iron Martyn took part. There were suggestions that in the battles near Pskov, Fabricius commanded a regiment that served as a barrage detachment. The red commander allegedly fired at his retreating troops.
According to other sources, in 1918, Fabricius, without any pity, cracked down on local residents in Gdov, who were declared enemies of the new government. And in 1921, on the orders of Jan Fritsevich, as it turned out, in Oranienbaum, pilots, soldiers of the Nevelsky regiment and members of their families were shot. However, historians have not yet been able to provide reliable data on the atrocities of the red commander.
Iron Martyn passed away in August 1929 at the age of 52. It is believed that he drowned in the Black Sea while rescuing a drowning man. But there is another version, according to which the commander accidentally fell out of a flying plane when, for the sake of bragging, he ordered the pilot to make a dizzying maneuver. One way or another, but one thing is clear: the hero of the Civil War died ingloriously.
